Vortex Swirl Soap

After making soap for 5 years I got bored and unmotivated as I tried most of the techniques that interested me.  I used to soap at least once a week sometimes more.  But I haven't been doing much since the year end holiday season.  One night I decided to force myself to make a small batch just to kick start the momentum.  I didn't know what I want to do, sort of into the going with the flow mood.  It's usually the last minute spontaneous decision after seeing how fast the soap batter moves.  Since the batter wasn't moving too fast I decided to pour ITP (in the pot swirl) style into the mold at random spots.  The next natural reaction is to spin the mold to create some kind of pattern.

Spin swirl has been circulating our soap making communities for a while last year, got pretty popular at one time.  Spin swirl is made by literally spinning the mold at its center axis with or without the help of a lazy Susan.  The unique pattern is created by what the physics called the centrifugal force.  Centrifugal force is an outward force directed away from the axis of rotation in a rotating reference frame.  Ok, plain English please!  It's basically saying when rotating the object(s) at whatever defined perimeter's center axis all the objects in that perimeter will be thrown in a rotating outward direction by the centrifugal force.  Apply that in making spin swirl soap it means the batter is being thrown outward in a circular rotating motion in the mold, the further away the stronger force the bigger swirl.  The result of that is usually a very well marbled outside perimeter swirl pattern but the center stayed still with no movement at all.  It's like a tornado, nothing spins at the very center of the tornado; or think of it as a hurricane, the eye of a hurricane is actually very peaceful.
Watch this short video made by SoapQueen spinning the slab mold on a lazy Susan: Psychedelic Spin Swirl Cold Process Tutorial

Anyway, I had tried to modify the spin swirl last year to find a way to get some swirling pattern closer to the center, see my previous blog post: Modified Spin Swirl  I decided to try something else this time.  Instead of using centrifugal force, I used the concept of centripetal force.  Is it confusing?  Most of the people think centrifugal and centripetal forces are the same.  They are related, but not the same, no, or else why would there be 2 different words, right?

So centripetal force is a force that makes object(s) follow circular path.  What does that translate into making soap?  I simply held my slab mold as it's a gigantic pen (use your imagination) and drew circle after circle on my counter top.  In other words, instead of keeping the mold steady and spin it at its center axis, I use the whole mold to draw big circles (ok it might have been ovals because I'm just human, LOL).  Do you see the subtle differences now?